Thesis Option
If you pursue the thesis option, in addition to your core and capstone, you will take 6 semester hours of thesis credit (CMCN 599), plus enough additional graduate-level communication electives (400G and 500-level courses) to earn a total of 30 hours of credit.
Prior to registering for the first 3 hours of thesis, you will form a committee of three graduate faculty. Your chair must be from your area of specialization and your thesis must be based in that area. One member (not your chair) may be from outside the department, but all must hold graduate faculty status at UL Lafayette. Once you have formed your committee, you may not modify it unless a faculty member on your committee leaves the university.
During the first semester of thesis, you will develop a research proposal (prospectus) in conjunction with your chair and committee. After your proposal is approved, you'll proceed to perform the research and write up the analysis. This is typically done during the second 3 hours of thesis. If you are working with human subjects, you will first need to have your project approved through the university's Institutional Review Board before doing any data gathering. Once you have received approval, you may continue with your analysis.
Once your committee has approved your work unanimously, it will be submitted to the university reader for review of the formatting. Thesis work is not considered complete until it has been approved by the university reader.
Students must complete a minimum of 6 semester hours of thesis as part of their curriculum. They must be enrolled in at least 3 semester hours of thesis during the semester that they submit the final version of their thesis -- the copy that has been reviewed and approved by the university reader -- to the Graduate School. If a student misses the deadline to complete the thesis during one semester, the student will have to register for at least 3 additional semester hours of thesis during the next semester unless the thesis is fully approved by all parties -- including the university reader -- before the first day of classes in the next semester. It is important to point out that the graduate faculty, university reader, and Graduate School staff may have limited or no availability between semesters.
